This is my fourth Sally Hepworth novel and likely my favorite to date. THE SOULMATE is a novel about marriage, betrayal and secrets. Gabe and Pippa live in a cottage on a cliff in a sleepy coastal town. The tall cliffs bordering on their backyard is a popular spot for people to take their lives. Several times, Gabe has talked people down from the colloquial Drop.. but this time is different. When Pippa discovers the identity of the victim, many other secrets start to bubble to the surface making her question everything about the man she’s married to and their shared lives together.

I started this novel and was immediately captivated by the setting and the premise of the story. Who doesn’t love a good story based on marriage and possible murder? The story is gripping and addictive. I found myself not wanting to put the book down which was greatly aided by the short and bingeable chapters. The use of dual timelines as well as dual POVs was very well done and added to the mystery and tension of the story while giving a look at the bigger picture. The plot itself is complex, intriguing and thrilling, filled with many secrets. The pacing is exceptionally well done, keeping the reader reeled into the story and the characters.

The characters are well-written and dynamic. I enjoyed the journey through the eyes of the two chosen main characters. The character progression and plot reveals through their eyes were each very well developed.

I really enjoyed the nuance of the perfect marriage and what can lie beneath the surface, which is a narrative that prevailed throughout.

My one qualm was I felt that everything tied together in the end too neatly. Overall, I really enjoyed my reading experience and would highly recommend this novel!

<i>I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, of this advanced digital copy for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed are my own.</i>

I picked it up to read, and proceeded to finish in about 3.5 hours. I couldn’t put it down. The chapters were short, keeping my attention, the chapters were labeled so it was easy to keep track of if it were before what happened, or after. The characters developed well throughout. I rated it 4.5 stars only because I felt the ending was anticlimactic. The truth was revealed, and then BOOM, this happens and the story jumps ahead a year to the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the story though, and will be picking up the rest of Hepworth’s backlog. I’ve been reading a lot of romance/fantasy recently, but this thriller was a phenomenal add to my TBR.

The Soulmate by Sally Hepsworth is a domestic thriller. I don’t want to give too much away but it starts off with a dangerous cliff edge known as the “ drop”. I loved how the story had dual perspectives and switched timelines. If you are a fan of domestic thrillers and dysfunctional couples, you might like this one. It just wasn’t for me. I was underwhelmed with the ending and I didn’t like how the author handled mental illness.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I always love reading a Sally Hepworth book and this one was no exception! If I had the time, I could’ve very easily sat down and binged it in one sitting because it had me hooked.

The more thrillers that I read, the more I am able to predict what’s going to happen. One of the things I loved about this one is that there were quite a few plot twists that I did not see coming at all! I found that they were more related to family drama as opposed to the actual thriller aspects of the story, but I still really enjoyed it.

There was also a focus on mental health, and the little psychologist student in me was so interested in all of that (I’m a psych major and yes, I am super annoying about it).

Trigger warning: multiple mentions of suicide (I don’t feel that this is a spoiler since it gets brought up immediately).

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy!

4.5 which I gladly round up to 5 stars for the ending alone . Plus if I wasn't read The Soulmate I was thinking about what would happen next.

The first chapter has you hooked as we find Gabe trying to talk someone from not jumping off "The Drop" commonly and sadly used for suicides.

He is not successful.

Pipa finally realizes Gabe is only telling half the story: why wont he admit he knew her.

The book is told from 2 perspectives and this works so very well.

The suspense mounts with each chapter and you will be racing to the end .

Sally Hepworth has done it again with The Soulmate.

Highly recommend you get your copy: don't even put it on your TBR pile, just open it up and start the adventure.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a wild and exciting read that held me holding my breath.

A big thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This is one of those books where you begin at the end and the rest of the story flashes back to slowly reveal how and why the characters got to this particular point. While I did enjoy the setup, I did not love the characters. At first, it was easy to root for our MC, but as the book progressed, her naïveté and willingness to ignore her husband’s erratic behavior was annoying. I found myself not really caring one way or the other about her marriage or the circumstances of the mysterious death. It wasn’t a bad domestic thriller, but this one was underwhelming for me as a whole.

3.5/5

I ended up not finishing this book at just over 40% of the way through it.
There were multiple times I was tempted to stop reading pretty early on in the book and then it would pick up a bit and become an okay read again and then it would get on my nerves again.
Pippa is very naive and it’s annoying to read her POV. She’s obsessed with her husband, Gabe’s, good looks and clearly obviously sees him through rose colored glasses. Yes she admits he has faults but he’s so good looking and charming and her “soulmate” so those override any red flags.
And the other thing that bothered me were the present POV chapters from a dead woman’s perspective. That seemed weird to me and I couldn’t look past it.

I’m sure many readers will enjoy this thriller and won’t be bothered by the aspects that annoyed me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the copy of this eARC.

I enjoyed this fast paced thriller turned family drama. There was a nice twist to this one and it kept you kind of knowing what to expect but still guessing along the way. I think Hepworth fans will enjoy it and if you haven't tried one of Hepworth's books yet, this would be a good one to start with to get a feel for how she tells a story through multiple POVs and converging timelines.

The Queen of domestic suspense is back. I always know when I sit down with a Hepworth, I won’t be moving for a while. She always does such a good job of writing characters that you don’t like, but you just can’t hate either. Plus, she is funny and that always helps.

Told from alternating POVs of Pippa (Now) and Amanda (Before). I thought that using the perspective of a person deceased and “in limbo” to be clever, refreshing and a bit of a mysterious way of telling us parts of the story.

There was a bit of weighty discussion on mental health/illness in this one which I appreciated. Hepworth usually takes a real-life challenge and sprinkles it into her stories with such ease. It never feels forced but she gets her point across.

This was entertaining from beginning to end, full of twists and jaw dropping turns. I was surprised by a few and felt this to be original popcorn fun! The cover is fantastic too!

Thank you Netgalley for my advance copy!

Listen if you like:
💔 Domestic Thriller
🔍 Mysteries
✌🏻Two POV
🧠 Mental Health Representation
📖 Short Chapters
🧐 Unreliable Narrator

Last year I read The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth so when this one was listed on NetGalley I couldn’t help but request it.

This one definitely missed some of that thriller/suspense I was hoping for and felt more like a mystery than a thriller of what happened versus a pulse pounding thriller.

One thing I really loved was getting a POV from beyond the grave as the pieces were slowly put together of what happened at the cliff that day and why.

If you like domestic mysteries with some slight thriller moments I’d highly recommend this one as it was well done! Thank you to St Martin’s Press for my ARC of this one!

Well, suffice it to say, this one definitely wasn't for me... where to start.
First, there is one POV (which I won't define with more detail because, well, spoilers... DM me if you want to talk more) that was so confusing and felt really unnecessary, The POV was explained at the end of the book and did make much better sense at that point, but I spend the majority of the book incredibly confused (also, can you say implausible?!).
If there's one thing I cannot stand in a book it's hot-mess, dumb, female MCs and unfortunately Pippa fits this bill perfectly. I understand some of her motivations and choices, but some of her actions are completely insane. Watch out for yourself, girlfriend! Your husband is, well, special, so please, please do us all a favor and make smarter choices. Overall, just kind of an annoying character in my opinion.
Okay, to end this review... let's talk ending. Don't get me wrong, I love a good "not perfect" conclusion if it's done effectively. But, just failing to conclude or concluding really quickly to answer all the remaining "questions" is not my idea of a good ending. While we do know what happens, and there's a somewhat satisfactory "conclusion" the way the story ended was so "blah" to me. And, I'm going to keep this vague (spoilers), but I hate endings where guilty characters don't live the consequences of their choices.
This review is, of course, just my opinion, and this story might be one you love, so please do not let my review put you off picking up this one for yourself!

**Note: this review will appear on my bookstagram @leannaslittlelibrary on the publish date, April 4th, 2023

This is the fifth book I've read by Hepworth and I always like her writing. This had a couple of minor issues for me and felt a bit slow in the middle, but I liked the ending and thought the twists were interesting. Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit.

The story is told from the dual perspectives of Pippa, who lives in the house on the cliffside with her husband Gabe, and Amanda, the woman who just died. Amanda was an interesting perspective and gave you insight into her marriage and her husband's activities.

I was frustrated by Pippa and her tolerance for certain things in her marriage. It made her come across as a bit pathetic to me at times. There were also some things she should have put together regarding the mystery, but she didn't, and on some level it seemed like she must have chosen not to. I was also very frustrated by a doctor due to a diagnosis that clearly didn't fit and seemed unrealistic to me.

Otherwise, I thought the story was great. I enjoyed trying to figure out what happened and why. Some small pieces I figured out and some I guessed at, but there were certainly more unexpected twists at the end. I liked the dual perspectives and thought they were well-spaced. I also found the shifts from before and after the death easy to follow. The chapters are labeled by who is narrating and when, but it was clear enough from the context in the chapters.

I look forward to seeing what Hepworth comes out with next. I plan to continue reading her work.

While The Soulmate was definitely a page-turner, I was ultimately disappointed in it. Sally Hepworth has written a story about two different couples whose lives intersect. Pippa and Gabe live, with their two little girls, in a house right near a cliff that is known for people trying to jump off there to commit suicide. It seems that it’s right by a walking path and the first thought that struck me was - why on earth isn’t there some sort of big fence or other barrier by this place? It’s well-known enough to have a nickname of The Drop! Who in their right mind would buy a house right next to this spot when you have two very young children? So right away, I had my doubts about the sanity of this couple. Pippa’s husband Gabe seems to be talented at talking people “down.” So far, as the book begins, he has prevented seven possible suicides.

Chapters are told from either Pippa’s point of view (POV) or that of another woman, Amanda. They are labeled as Now or Before for Pippa’s chapters and After or Before for Amanda’s. I didn’t really enjoy the constant back and forth of this, but the author did a good job of labeling the chapters so it wasn’t confusing for the reader/listener.

There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, including one huge reveal/twist near the end of the book. That one I didn’t see coming, although there were some clues along the way, once I’d thought about it.

Unfortunately, none of the main characters were particularly appealing, which made it a bit hard to get fully invested in their lives.

The author, in a note at the end of the book says it’s “an exploration of the bad and good sides of marriage… I like to think of it as a murderous love story.” So it that sounds like something you’d like, pick this one up. For me, it wasn’t her best book.

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title, which was very convenient and allowed me to speed through the story. The audiobook has two distinct narrators, one for Pippa and one for Amanda, who both do a wonderful job: Barrie Kreinik and Jessica Douglas-Henry. Since the story takes place in Australia, I enjoyed listening to the Australian accents of the narrators.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

An outstanding author who delivered another 5 star book! I didn't want to go to work but stay home and soak every word up, but reality had me put it aside. It will hold you in suspense as you watch marriages unravel with their deceptions and lies. With a house only feet away from a cliff designated as "the drop" for suicide missions, it left an eerie feel by the ocean. The cover is a beautiful deception of their final fleeting moments of life faced before their demise.
Told from different viewpoints, Pippa reveals a perfect marriage on the outside to her love at first sight husband, Gabe. He was a beautiful being, yet suffers from a mental illness misdiagnosed at first. They have two beautiful daughters with one of them being from Gabe's infidelity. Pippa practices law while Gabe is the daily protector of the girls. At times, Pippa reveals herself as a mother that suffered postpartum in the beginning, but Gabe has been deemed as the hero of the small community saving many contemplating suicide. The one time Gabe did not save a woman that did jump, Pippa tried to resolve what she saw from the window. Did Gabe push her? Know her? Lie to the police? To Pippa?
This is an amazing setup that will have you pondering all the ways that this could go, but none of them prepared me for that final ending. Outstanding!
A lot of dark, elusive stories are going on throughout and never a dull moment especially when the woman that jumped tells her side from purgatory.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press this copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 Stars

I liked the atmospheric setting and I was intrigued by the story but it did really drag at parts. I found myself wanting to skim some parts in the middle, unfortunately. I pushed through because I wanted to see how all the relationships came together. This felt more like a domestic mystery than a thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC!

This was my second novel from Sally Hepworth and I really enjoyed it! I find her style of literary suspense to be very engaging. I love the way she takes time to develop her characters and gets readers to feel invested in the outcomes of their stories. This was such a quick page turner that I'd recommend to other fans of literary suspense stories!

Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was really great. I was gripped from the first chapter and read most of the book in one sitting. I did find the last 25% or so dragged on but the twists near the end made up for it.

Whenever I open a new Sally Hepworth novel, I know I'm in for a gripping and twisty story, and this certainly delivered on that front! Gabe and Pippa live in their dream home on a cliff in a sleepy coastal town. Unfortunately, their front yard is a top choice for people who want to commit suicide by jumping off the cliff, and Gabe has earned a reputation for talking them off the ledge. One day, a woman arrives and Gabe can't save her - or did he possibly push her? As her story and Pippa's unwind between past and present, Hepworth delivers plenty of plot twists as she delves into an examination of love and betrayal. The only part that really didn't work for me was the sections of narration from the dead woman. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital review copy.

I was really looking forward to reading "The Soulmate: by Sally Hepworth because I've found her previous works to be very entertaining reads. Maybe it is because my expectations were so high going into it, but the book was a bit of a let-down for me. It's a fast read, and I was entertained at points, but I never truly got lost in the story and I was indifferent to the fates of the characters, due to the lack of any real character development. This book never completely grabbed my interest, even through its twists and turns. This book is definitely more plot-driven than character-driven and it lacked the fleshed-out characters that make a book come alive to me. It had a lot of potential, but fell flat.

I also feel that the unstable-character-with-bipolar-depression trope is a tired one. The book would have been much more interesting if mental illness wasn't behind everything that occurs. Maybe I'm just sensitive because of my own mental health issues, but I'm sick of bad acts being explained away in books by mental illness. I'm weary from reading books that equate bad acts with mental illness; they increase the stigma and make lives like mine more difficult. I acknowledge and am grateful for the author's use of sensitivity readers, but I guess they weren't sensitive enough for me. Oh well, we all have our triggers I guess.

I won't give up on this author, but this book was a dud for me. I'm giving it three stars because I didn't find it a complete waste of my time to read, I just find it to be an average, unexceptional, and uncreative read.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy of The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

I loved this book. I went in thinking the plot was going to be one thing, and at every turn, I was surprised. It is rare to find a suspense novel that doesn't have easily guessed plot arcs. And while I did figure out the overall huge mystery, all the various details and reasons why were a complete surprise. I was very satisfied with this book and gave it 5/5 stars.